I really liked Miss India, and thought she had a great chance. Oh, well.

Actually that's not entirely true, there's almost always a finalist from Asia. Last year the first runner up was from Japan. Indonesia was top ten in 05 and India was top ten in 04. In 03 Japan was fourth runner up. In 02 China was second runner up and India was top ten. In 01 India was fourth runner up and was the overall winner in 2000.
That being said, I thought Japan was adorable tonight, even though I was very on the fence about her dress and the way she worked it. USA's fall was extremely unfortunate, if it hadn't been for that she would've had the crown in the bag. Her overall package was flawless and I know first-hand that she is incredibly endearing in person. It was an interesting night...

Really, how do you know Rachel? Never mind. I guess you know her from competing in pageants I just saw a past post. :rolleyes:

Personally, she couldn't hold a candle to the other girls. I think she was a good contestant, but only top five b/c of Trump's involvement. And, this is coming from someone who is from her hometown. She was just ehhhh to me. Japan rocked that dress. It was so un-pageant-like. Thank goodness for some originality! I get so sick of those cookie-cutter dresses year after year.

I think what OTW was trying to say was that you don't see the an Asian domination like that exhibited by the Latin American contestants in this pageant.

I think you have WAYYYYYYY too much time on your hands OR you have WAYYYYYYY too much time on your hands. Who the heck takes the time to pull statistics like that? Never mind, I see that you are one of those "Brandi Rae"-types.

Yes ma'am I am a pageant girl! Don't know who Brandi Rae is and I couldn't figure it out with a quick google search, so I'll just choose not to be offended and hope that's how you meant it;) (unless you care to elaborate)
I know more or less what OTW was trying to say, but the fact of the matter is that when it comes to powerhouse areas Asia is actually very much up there, they consistently send some very beautiful, capable women who do extremely well. However, one has to understand that the Latin American contestants do better because they are better prepared: pageants are a bigger deal there than pretty much anywhere else. Miss winners in Latin America are treated like celebrities unlike in other countries. They have the full package of being beautiful, having a killer wardrobe and having the full support of a country to get them ready.
As for Rachel, sorry but she was there almost purely of her own merit, not because of Trump -I say "almost" merely because she does have a leg up on being from a country who, despite lack of countrywide pageant love, can prepare her adequately for world-wide competition. And have you looked at her resume recently? I didn't see anyone who held a candle...sorry. The crown was her's to lose.
And I don't so much have way too much time on my hands as I have uncanny knack for remembering pretty much useless facts like who won which pageants -I only had to look up a few of those years and it only took me about thirty seconds because I knew exactly where to look:)

If you can't manage to find out who Brandirae is on your own, I am not going to explain it to you...

<---------Don't really care about the ins and outs of pageants. Was making comments based on personal opinion... I do know that resumes seem to have little correlation with actual pageant results. Keep telling yourself that it's a scholarship program;)

C'mon. You don't really believe all of the shit coming from your mouth, do you? On second thought, don't answer that. Anything you say will just be heard as blah-blah-blah blah-blah.

Yeah, I love to see an underdog win. I loved it when Miss Botswana won a while back. As for Asian countries faring at Miss U., India has usually been a pretty strong force in the MU world; they're usually "in there" for the finalists. As for another 'Asian' former Miss Universe 1988, Porntip Nakhirunkanok (I know, I know...nice first name) was Miss Thailand, but she was basically raised in L.A. (as told to me by one of my "friend of Dorothy" frenz - he LOVES TEH pageants) and Porntip had an accent like you and I, so it's not like she is really a "true" Miss Thailand, you know what I mean? She was pretty much groomed for the pageant circuit in the USA, not in Thailand.

Eta: Philippines often sends a strong candidate.

Wow. Obviously you won't want to hear what I have to say but I can't help myself because you've hit on a few of my biggest pageant pet peeves and if you don't care fine, but maybe I can teach someone else something.
First of all, the Miss Universe/Miss USA pageants do not claim to be scholarship programs, never have and I sincerely doubt that they ever will. Miss America is the scholarship program and it is the single largest provider of scholarship for women in America. You can try and make that factoid go away by belittling it all you want, I'll just take the two thousand, five hundred dollars that I've won so far this year, by doing something that I enjoy, and go pay off a little bit more of my college tuition.
Secondly, if you're competing in Miss Universe Org or Miss America Org your resume matters, I've done both and I know. Can you win with a less than stellar resume? Yes, but it certainly decreases your chances and you'd better be a hell of a talker and walker. I don't know about other systems, but for these two you have to be a well rounded young woman to win.
And thirdly, because I could hear the disdain dripping from your post, I would simply like to ask if you've ever competed in pageants before? If you have then I would like to say I'm sorry that you had what must've been such an unpleasant experience to turn you off so much to them. However if you haven't then how dare you pass judgment on something for which you have no inside knowledge? I have met more kind, talented and motivated women competing in pageants than I have anywhere else. These women will go above and beyond the call of duty and so far out of their way for one another it's unbelievable. I have found a way to dance on stage, one of my greatest passions in life, and be able to be rewarded for it. I have learned how to stand in front of a panel of seven people having them rapid fire questions at me about politics, war, religion, drugs, arts, education and a myriad of other things that most of the general public will know nothing about -without breaking a sweat.
I could go on but I'm sure this is all "blah blah blah" to you, as you said so I guess I would just like to point out that there are some striking similarities between how people view sororities and how people view pageants...extreme stereotypes that in the end really aren't true in the vast majority of instances. It's hurtful to people when you pass judgment on something that is important to them without knowing the truth.

I thought Venezuela had it in the bag until she kept messing up her cues. There was at least three times she went the wrong place at the wrong time! I like Miss USA but thought the highest she would finish was fourth place. So she only fared slightly worse than I expected. I thought she handled the fall with grace which made me sad that I didn't think she would finsih higher. I really liked Japan and was happy with her win.

Isn't Brandi Rae everyone's favorite KD???? She'll totally hook you up with Louis Vuitton! :p

Hah, I should have known that Brandi Rae was a GC reference that I didn't get :rolleyes: Not the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last. No wonder it didn't come up in my google search! Now that I've wasted far too much time figuring out who this chick is and then reading the stuff about her because I just couldn't look way from the train wreck, I can assure you that despite some odd coincidences we are not one and the same. I'm ambivalent about Louis Vuitton. I have both my hands. My grammar is at least decent. I found the "make up your own pageant title" thread hysterical.
And, oh yeah, I actually am a Kappa Delta.

Let me preface this by saying that I've been a MAO prelim volunteer since 2001 before I get accused of not knowing what the hell I'm talking about since I've never competed in pageants and will never, ever do so. I only volunteer because pageant life is so important to a lot of people I'm close with.

Different kinds of girls enter every year. Some were bred since birth, others do it for the $$$. You don't need a lengthy and stellar resume. I know of several Miss Hawaiis who won despite their lack of experience. Unfortunately, a lot of girls enter just to get notoriety -- VIP red carpet treatment, invitations to exclusive parties, their pictures in the society pages. It's these girls that foster the stereotypes and each time they walk on stage I can't help but pray that they pull a Rachel and eat shit.

I don't know how the Miss USA system is like in your neck of the woods, and I'm probably going to get flamed for saying this, but where I'm from, Miss Hawaii USA's a joke. Consider it Miss America's bastard sibling. Miss Hawaii USA contestants usually consist of former Miss Hawaii contestants who obviously didn't win. Brook Mahealani Lee (Miss Universe 1997) ran unsuccessfully for the Miss Hawaii crown in the early 90s and only when she became ineligible to compete in the MAO system did she try for Miss USA. Obviously she did well. Still, I find it amusing that Miss Hawaii USA gets the MAO leftovers. :rolleyes:

It's funny how some people can get so defensive when it comes to pageants. In the end, I know that I don't need a sash, tiara, and a title to know that I'm a beautiful, talented, and intelligent person and I'll definitely continue to poke fun at individuals who think that those things actually add to one's self worth. :rolleyes:

I think it's almost funny if they boo'd because of US policies. No one who has any say in those policies gives a crap what happens at Trump's pageant. The vast majority of people in our country could care less about these pageants. It's really not a matter of national pride in our country, unlike other countries. Hell, Miss America can't even get TV coverage. Miss USA & Miss Universe get aired because Trump has made them slut it up. I turned it off at 10:30 because it was time for bed. If they did it 8-10 they might get more viewers - more kids could watch. But then Trump would have to tone it down- it's gotten to be more of a Victoria's Secret fashion show than a pageant.

I would've loved to see Miss Tanzania win, she seemed like she had a great personality and it would've been nice to have a different kind of beauty recognized. But, unfortunately, her walk was terrible.

I liked Miss Japan, and I really liked Miss Venezuela - no one else could hold a candle to her in the bathing suit competition.

Miss USA was just ehhhh for me. I didn't find her nearly as attractive as many of the other contestants. She seemed friendly and fun, but not incredibly gorgeous. That said, I thought some of the other countries were sorta fugly...

Mario Lopez and Vanessa Minillo's attempts at Spanish were pitiful. You know behind the scenes he's probably play grab ass with all of the contestants.

Exactly.

Well I have to say at least Brazil and Japan, having actually ANSWERED the questions, were the final two. It is annoying that USA, who also ANSWERED the question and didn't just pull things out of her but (like Venezuela and Korea did) got 4th place.:rolleyes: But that is how Miss Universe works. You look pretty, answer the question politely, even if your answer has absolutely nothing to do with the question and you win (i.e. Zuleka from last year). I guess this is why I actually prefer Miss America. Miss America just doesn't slut it up (thank you for the term kddani!).

I also thought it was so rude for the Mexican people to boo USA. Yes, she tripped but she pulled herself up, smiled a huge smile and went about it. Just because Mexico is the host country doesn't mean that they deserve the title.

From Yahoo (after calling it "the Troubled Miss Universe Pagaent"):

"This year's contest was marked by controversy, with a handful of Mexicans booing Smith in the run-up to the finals because of what they saw as U.S. unfriendliness toward illegal immigrants."

Personally, I didn't care for Miss USA's evening dress - but I wasn't a judge. As I said before, I'm shocked that nothing fell out when she took her tumble. The fact that she got up and handled it as well as she did brought her up in my estimation - let's face it, we've all made mistakes.

I thought that Miss India was stunning in the swimsuit competition, and for the life of me, couldn't understand why Miss Russia didn't bother to do her roots! This year's pagaent just didn't have that je ne sais pas that past years have had. Very disappointing.

Makes me wonder how Mexicans would feel if the situation was reversed on illegal immigration (like us Americans were illegally going into their country, seeking employment, spending their tax dollars on medical care, etc...)? How much you wanna bet they wouldn't be booing then. :rolleyes: